By: Menéndez S.B. No. 1317
(In the Senate - Filed March 11, 2015; March 18, 2015, read
first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;
April 30, 2015, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 7,
Nays 0; April 30, 2015, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the prosecution of the offense of improper photography
or visual recording.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 21.15(a) and (b), Penal Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) In this section:
(1) "Female breast" means any portion of the female
breast below the top of the areola.
(2) "Intimate area" means the naked or
undergarment-clad genitals, pubic area, anus, buttocks, or female
breast of a person.
(3) "Place in which a person has a reasonable
expectation of privacy" means a place in which a reasonable person
would believe that the person could disrobe in privacy, without
being concerned that the act of undressing would be photographed or
filmed by another.
(4) "Promote"[, "promote"] has the meaning assigned by
Section 43.21.
(b) A person commits an offense if, without the other
person's consent and with intent to invade the privacy of the other
person, the person:
(1) photographs or by videotape or other electronic
means records, broadcasts, or transmits a visual image of an
intimate area of another person under circumstances in which the
other person has a reasonable expectation of privacy, regardless of
whether the other person is in a public or private place; [another
at a location that is not a bathroom or private dressing room:
[(A) without the other person's consent; and
[(B) with intent to arouse or gratify the sexual
desire of any person;]
(2) photographs or by videotape or other electronic
means records, broadcasts, or transmits a visual image of another
person in a place in which the other person has a reasonable
expectation of privacy [another at a location that is a bathroom or
private dressing room:
[(A) without the other person's consent; and
[(B) with intent to:
[(i) invade the privacy of the other
person; or
[(ii) arouse or gratify the sexual desire
of any person]; or
(3) knowing the character and content of the
photograph, recording, broadcast, or transmission, promotes a
photograph, recording, broadcast, or transmission described by
Subdivision (1) or (2).
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.
An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is
governed by the law in effect on the date the offense was committed,
and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For
purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the
effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurred
before that date.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.
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